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I don't have Facebook. I don't have Twitter. I don't even have Instagram, or TikTok. I stay away from all kinds of social media, aside from Telegram to chat wit

I don't have Facebook. I don't have Twitter. I don't even have Instagram, or TikTok. I stay away from all kinds of social media, aside from Telegram to chat with my friends, and it's been this way for the last 10 or so years... and boy do I get confirmation that I made a very good choice very, very often.

barbs 4y ago
Do Telegram and other chat apps count as social media? In my mind they are separate but I could be wrong?
- birracerveza 4y ago
  Kind of. The difference is that with Telegram you are mostly required to actively participate in your network, directly sending messages/media to a specific person/group (YMMV obviously), whereas with "traditional" social media you put your contents out there, which, depending on the algorithm, may or may not be seen by your followers or the platform's userbase, with a much more passive engagement model where users can consume content without ever putting some out themselves, thus much more vulnerable to algorithm-driven user engagement exploits. Discord is also very similar to Telegram conceptually, but very different at the same time because of the role it fulfills. Different tools, with different properties, for different needs. Even phone calls can be considered social media! The key is using them responsibly.
dzhiurgis 4y ago
How is hacker news and likes of reddit or even slashdot not a social media. In some ways reddit is much worse (echo chamber) than twitter.
- xkbarkar 4y ago
  not sure why you are downvoted. These platforms are social media. I font feel criticizing or mentioning reddit breaks the HN rules.
- eddy_chan 4y ago
  I just had to quit Reddit this weekend. Deleted the app off my phone, edited my hosts file on my computer to send it to 127.0.0.1 along with a whole bunch of mass media sites. I noticed this year that I was scrolling and scrolling and scrolling hours away on reddit and then it hit me, this is a tiny minority of the world having an outsized influence on my thoughts and opinions both in a positive and negative manner but more often than not negative and getting worse over time. The most outraged, the biggest whiners would get the most upvotes so all you see is outrage and rants and I thought to myself, is that really how the general public is? Is this really my experience of it?...then I thought no it's not, it's an algorithm that's feeding off my fear to instil more fear in me in a never ending loop. Delete...
- birracerveza 4y ago
  It is. It's just different forms of them. HN comment section can be considered a social media, Reddit definitely is a social network. If you are broad with the term, anything with a community can be considered social media. What I quit are the "passive" social media that market themselves as such, with the social part being their primary function and attraction.
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  I don't see sites that just have user discussions as social media. To me they're essentially usenet but on a web site. I'd say to qualify as social media you need to make the experience about connecting people with each other or with groups, and finding people to connect with. Things like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are all definitely social media. A site that just posts news headlines that people comment on is not really social media IMHO.

barbs 4y ago

Do Telegram and other chat apps count as social media? In my mind they are separate but I could be wrong?

birracerveza 4y ago
Kind of. The difference is that with Telegram you are mostly required to actively participate in your network, directly sending messages/media to a specific person/group (YMMV obviously), whereas with "traditional" social media you put your contents out there, which, depending on the algorithm, may or may not be seen by your followers or the platform's userbase, with a much more passive engagement model where users can consume content without ever putting some out themselves, thus much more vulnerable to algorithm-driven user engagement exploits. Discord is also very similar to Telegram conceptually, but very different at the same time because of the role it fulfills. Different tools, with different properties, for different needs. Even phone calls can be considered social media! The key is using them responsibly.

dzhiurgis 4y ago

How is hacker news and likes of reddit or even slashdot not a social media. In some ways reddit is much worse (echo chamber) than twitter.

xkbarkar 4y ago
not sure why you are downvoted. These platforms are social media. I font feel criticizing or mentioning reddit breaks the HN rules.
eddy_chan 4y ago
I just had to quit Reddit this weekend. Deleted the app off my phone, edited my hosts file on my computer to send it to 127.0.0.1 along with a whole bunch of mass media sites. I noticed this year that I was scrolling and scrolling and scrolling hours away on reddit and then it hit me, this is a tiny minority of the world having an outsized influence on my thoughts and opinions both in a positive and negative manner but more often than not negative and getting worse over time. The most outraged, the biggest whiners would get the most upvotes so all you see is outrage and rants and I thought to myself, is that really how the general public is? Is this really my experience of it?...then I thought no it's not, it's an algorithm that's feeding off my fear to instil more fear in me in a never ending loop. Delete...
birracerveza 4y ago
It is. It's just different forms of them. HN comment section can be considered a social media, Reddit definitely is a social network. If you are broad with the term, anything with a community can be considered social media. What I quit are the "passive" social media that market themselves as such, with the social part being their primary function and attraction.
MattPalmer1086 4y ago
I don't see sites that just have user discussions as social media. To me they're essentially usenet but on a web site. I'd say to qualify as social media you need to make the experience about connecting people with each other or with groups, and finding people to connect with. Things like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are all definitely social media. A site that just posts news headlines that people comment on is not really social media IMHO.